Introducing Ui to the Developing Countries

IZA Policy Paper No. 6

PO LI CY PAPE R S E R I E S

Introducing Unemployment Insurance to Developing Countries

Milan Vodopivec

April 2009

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit Institute for the Study of Labor

Introducing Unemployment Insurance to Developing Countries

Milan Vodopivec

World Bank and IZA

Policy Paper No. 6 April 2009

IZA P.O. Box 7240 53072 Bonn Germany Phone: +49-228-3894-0 Fax: +49-228-3894-180 E-mail: iza@iza.org

The IZA Policy Paper Series publishes work by IZA staff and network members with immediate relevance for policymakers. Any opinions and views on policy expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of IZA. The papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the corresponding author.

IZA Policy Paper No. 6 April 2009

ABSTRACT

Introducing Unemployment Insurance to Developing Countries*

The paper identifies key labor market and institutional differences between developed and developing countries, analyzes how these differences affect the working of the standard, OECD-style unemployment insurance (UI) program, and derives a desirable design of unemployment benefit program in developing countries. It argues that these countries – faced by large informal sector, weak administrative capacity, large political risk, and environment prone to corruption – should tailor the OECD-style UI program to suit their circumstances. To minimize employment disincentives, to ensure affordability, and to minimize administration cots, such adaptations include: (i) relying on self-insurance (via unemployment insurance savings accounts – UISAs) as a main source of financing and complementing it by solidarity funding; (ii) simplifying monitoring of job-search behavior and labor market status, and even eliminating personal monitoring of continuing eligibility...